City of Glass by Cassandra Clare is the third in the Mortal Instruments series and ties up the first three books in the series. In it Valentine’s end game is revealed as is the truth about Jace’s lineage.

What I liked

Visiting Alicante, the so-called City of Glass. I was fascinated to see Alicante, the capital of the Shadowhunters. I personally would have liked to have seen more of how its inhabitants manage without electricity.

Logical plot progression. All of the plot development within the book was entirely logical within the framework of the story. There were some surprises, certainly, but nothing to disrupt the internal logic of the story. The foreshadowing was well done and very subtle.

The relationships. I was invested in all the key relationships: Jace/Clary, Luke/Jocelyn, Magnus/Alex. They were all beautifully written and I was happy that they worked out the way they did.

What I didn’t like

Pacing. For once I felt the pacing was slightly off. For a book that was supposed to tie up a lot of loose ends, there were a lot of slow moments, especially towards the beginning.

Scenery chewing villains. Personally, I prefer my villains to be a little more ambiguous. Both Valentine and especially Jonathan Morgenstern were squarely in the sociopathic camp. I had the strong impression both of them liked killing for the sake of killing. I suspect Clare was trying to give Valentine more depth with his belief that his way was the right way, even if it was flawed, but it didn’t quite come off for me. It would have been a stronger book for me if Valentine had been truly conflicted by the Clave’s inability to see his point of view and the ensuing need to purge the Shadowhunters.

All in all though, I still love the Shadowhunter world, and thought City of Glass was a good tie up for the first three books in the series. I gave City of Glass four stars out of five.